“More is lost by indecision than wrong decision. Indecision is the thief of opportunity. It will steal you blind…”
Marcus Tullius Cicero, Roman Statesman, 106-43BC
Leaders are paid to make decisions.
How they make them matters.
An indecisive leader isn’t just slow, they’re uncertain, and likely uncommitted.
Maybe afraid of making mistakes.
Decisiveness isn’t about making quick decisions, it’s about knowing when the decision needs to be made, & making it then.
A decisive leader can choose to delay a decision until it needs to be made, to get the best decision.
An indecisive leader can make a fast decision but then change it or undermine it just as quickly.
The difference isn’t just speed.
It’s courage.
And trust.
It doesn’t just take courage to make decisions, it takes courage to stick with them.
Courage isn’t the Hollywood kind that heroes have and villains don’t.
Courage is the choice to take risks to achieve an objective.
And to accept mistakes as the cost of making decisions
Every decision you make is a learning opportunity.
The more you make, the more you learn.
It takes courage to learn.
Decisions are an opportunity to build trust.
When a recommendation is made, and quickly accepted, it signals trust, in a very subconscious way.
Delay or indecision signal distrust.
Either way, don’t be indecisive.
Yes or No, either is ok so long as you own the results.
Speed isn’t the issue, ownership is.
“..It doesn’t just take courage to make decisions, it takes courage to stick with them…”
Think about some wrong decisions you’ve made.
Did you learn from those mistakes?
Do you trust yourself to make decisions?
What kind of decisions do you try try to make quickly?
Which do you take your time on?
Do you trust your team enough to support their decisions ?
Do you look at recommendations brought to you by your team as a decision made by them, which you can support or not?
Or is their recommendation an opportunity to show that you’re smarter than them?
Or a chance to keep them waiting to show who’s in charge?
Does your team trust you to be decisive?
Don’t let indecision be the thief of opportunity..
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“I might be wrong, but at least I’ve thought about it…”